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Toy Restoration - Restoring a 1978 X-Wing and Millennium Falcon
- Thread starter Darknight
- Start date
I love this channel - I think it's one of the best restoration channels on YouTube.
If you enjoy these videos I'd recommend their previous ones, which was focused more on metal-based toys from the (early) 20th century. There's some supremely satisfying sandblasting and powder painting content in there!
I'm quite curious as to what motivated the channel owner to work with these plastic toys, as it seems like a much less involved process. I'm also interested to know how they replicate the stickers so thoroughly - I presume they must have referenced photos or plans of a more prestine copy of the toy.
If you enjoy these videos I'd recommend their previous ones, which was focused more on metal-based toys from the (early) 20th century. There's some supremely satisfying sandblasting and powder painting content in there!
I'm quite curious as to what motivated the channel owner to work with these plastic toys, as it seems like a much less involved process. I'm also interested to know how they replicate the stickers so thoroughly - I presume they must have referenced photos or plans of a more prestine copy of the toy.
I've got an original X-wing, Snowspeeder and B-wing from when I was a kid. The B-Wing never yellowed but the X-wing and Snowspeeder sure did.
The X-Wing was re-released in 1995.. The others over the next few years after that.
There were no toys from that line for close to a decade at one point, though.
The last new main line toys shipped in 1985, and then there were a couple of cartoon lines right after. Strangely, the A-Wing was first released as part of a cartoon line.
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The A-wing was supposed to be part of the post-ROTJ Power of the Force toy line in 1985, but it got moved to Droids after PotF didn't sell well. Also helped that the A-wing showed up in an episode. There are some mock-ups of the POTF A-wing box online.
POTF A-Wing Box - Star Wars Collectors Archive
The Star Wars Collectors Archive is virtual museum of Star Wars memorabilia from collectors around the world.
theswca.com
I don't remember my x wing having a motor. But when you pushed R2 in I swore it made sound. It looked exactly like that one
Lol the "befores" look like the weathered paintjobs on new Vintage Collection ships.
I admire the craft, but they almost look better dirty.
I admire the craft, but they almost look better dirty.
Odd Tinkering is another good restoration yt channel. Does a lot of toys and video game consoles.
It's odd... I've talked to a few guys who do retro console refurbishing, and they all say that using that method of whitening plastic never lasts because there's some chemical in that older kind of plastic that will always turn them yellow after a certain amount of time passes by. And they all say that at best you might get palstic to stay white for a few months before it changes color again. So I asked what can be done, and pretty much all of them have said that to really get and maintain an original color, you're gonna have to bite the bullet and paint it.
Yeah, the old plastic reacts to UV light, so it's bound to start yellowing again.
Nope, you're absolutely right and they never looked that white in the films. Honestly not even sure they looked that white mint-in-box. Kenner's cheapness in product kind of lent itself to the dingy look.
That being said those channels are great in doing really quality restorations overall, the tools ones are really incredible.
I liked the X-Wing restoration video in the OP.
Not to derail the thread, but does anyone have any suggestions for videos similar in style to those in the OP but are about building and painting Gundam model mobile suits instead? I'd probably watch so many well done videos of someone making really good models of those, especially if they were just like the quality and style of those videos.
I'll probably go down a rabbit hole of looking for stuff like this now because yeah, cool vids.
Not to derail the thread, but does anyone have any suggestions for videos similar in style to those in the OP but are about building and painting Gundam model mobile suits instead? I'd probably watch so many well done videos of someone making really good models of those, especially if they were just like the quality and style of those videos.
I'll probably go down a rabbit hole of looking for stuff like this now because yeah, cool vids.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone who does Gundam models, but the absolute best channel to see painting and sculpting, and general customizing, is from Vince-Vell Customs. He does statue stuff that's mostly all superheros (repairs, custom unpainted works, kits, conversions from one character to another, personal commissions, official company pieces, etc). But every once in a while he'll redo a piece into an anime character and do a series about it. Recently he created a Jessie from Pokemon out of a Poison Ivy statue. I'm linking the seventh video of the series here, where he's at the final stage of painting. But the other videos in the series are about the drilling out of the original statue features, the sculpty he uses to build up her anime outfit from the shaved down statue, the metal rods he puts in her feet to stand her up and make sure she doesn't lean over time, and general statue building - if those topics might interest you. At the very least, the channel has a good mix of videos of him just reviewing works he did after the fact, showing off repairs he's done, showing the equipment he uses, and even recordings of live streams he's done where you can watch him work live and ask him basic painting questions if you want (he usually works on Sundays) =)
You could really get lost in what he does if you care at all about the character he's working on. And at the very least, if you wanna learn how to paint a Gundam model, this guy is gonna show you how to be the greatest custom painter in general =)
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I had the Kenner X-Wing and Millennium Falcon as a kid, and I don't ever remember them being that white, even when they were brand new. The plastic had a yellow-grey tinge to it right out of the box.